This piece from yesterday's Slow Saturday edition:
"Engineers prepare to remove gulf well’s cap; Focus will be saving blowout preventer" by Harry R. Weber, Associated Press | August 28, 2010
NEW ORLEANS — Engineers will soon start the delicate work of detaching the temporary cap that stopped oil from gushing from BP’s blown-out Gulf of Mexico well and the hulking device that failed to prevent the leak, all while trying to avoid more damage to the environment.
Why would there be more damage if the damn thing is allegedly sealed?
Retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the government’s point man for the spill response, told reporters yesterday that engineers will remove the cap starting Monday so they can raise the failed blowout preventer. The blowout preventer is considered a key piece of evidence in determining what caused the April rig explosion that unleashed the gushing oil....
Officials do not expect oil to leak into the sea again when the cap is removed, but Allen has ordered
Engineers must take care not to raise the central casing of the well and a casing seal. They also may have to carefully free the blowout preventer from any hanging drill pipe....
A new blowout preventer will be placed atop the well once the one that failed is raised.
After that, the goal is to drill the final 50 feet of a relief well, which will take about four days, beginning Sept. 7, Allen said.
We were told earlier this year it would be done by now.
The relief well has been called the ultimate solution to plugging the well that blew out. Once the relief well is drilled, engineers will be able to pump in mud and cement to permanently plug the well that gushed oil.
Meanwhile, the US government said yesterday it is reopening more federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico for commercial and recreational fishing that had been closed because of the spill....
Oil sheen has not been seen there since July 29, and scientists found no oil or dispersants on samples of the area’s shrimp and finfish....
Related: Slow Saturday Special: FDA's Gulf Coast Feast
Yeah, I will not be eating Gulf seafood ever again.
Also see: Corexit Still Being Sprayed in the Gulf
Other Globe offerings:
Panelists batter BP over past accidents
Departing BP head won’t testify in Sept.
Globe Editorial A lot more underwater, or not
I'm not going to find the answer reading that.
